payment page
Motives and Methods for English Colonization
Like other European powers, England wanted raw materials from the Americas. To that end, English colonization was focused on establishing permanent settlements. Early English migrants came to the Americas in search of economic wealth and religious freedom. As a result of the desire to acquire land, their interactions with Native Americans were very different from other Europeans.
One of the reasons many English settlers had such different ideas from their French, Spanish, and Dutch counterparts is that England itself had a very different political history. The Magna Carta was an agreement signed by King John and English noblemen in 1215. It started the process of limiting the power of the monarchy and stated the principle that no one, not even the monarch, was considered above the law. The agreement also led to the establishment of Parliament, a legislative assembly that had power over taxation, allowing it to check the monarch’s power. Centuries later, the English Bill of Rights (1689) confirmed these rights and further limited the powers of the king. These traditional liberties led Englishmen to value personal initiative and entrepreneurial enterprise. The English saw the North American colonies as a place for conquest and permanent settlement. They hoped that their traditional liberties, combined with the abundant natural resources available, would help them to create a prosperous permanent society.
Eight of the 13 English colonies were royal colonies, meaning the monarch granted a charter to the colony, chose a governor for political control of it, and often invested money to get the colony started. This took away a lot of financial risk in case the colony failed, but it also meant the colonists were under the direct rule of the royal governor. Other English colonies were funded by joint-stock companies. In this form of investment, private individuals got together and shared the risks and profits of exploration and colonial expansion. They would be granted a charter for land in a certain area and were, for the most part, allowed to establish whatever rules and expectations the colonists desired. In practice, the vast distances between England and its colonies allowed for a great deal of political independence.
English monarchs also wanted to compete with the Catholic powers of France and Spain. England was Protestant and wanted to bring its version of Christianity to Native Americans. In addition to extending their influence, English monarchs saw the Americas as an easy place to send people who might otherwise cause problems at home, such as the younger sons of noble families who had no property to inherit, and religious dissenters who did not want to follow the Church of England.
Experts divide the English colonies into three geographic regions: New England, Middle Colonies, and Chesapeake/Southern Colonies. Each region is characterized by its environmental factors, social and economic activities, and demographics.
The New England colonies consisted of Massachussetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, with the former three being very Puritan, and Rhode Island being more religiously tolerant. The New England colonies were founded for religious reasons, as the Puritans had been persecuted in England. Their population conisted of more families, and people tended to live longer. Their region had rocky soil, which meant no plantations or cash crops, only subsistence farming. Their cooler climate also meant less death from disease. Labor came from indentured servants and some enslaved people. They had many good harbors, which led to the development of shipping, whaling, fishing, and lumber industries.
The Middle Colonies consisted of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The temperate climate made for healthier people and lots of grain grown for export. They relied on indentured servants and some enslaved labor in their mixed economy---some agriculture, some shipping and fishing, some lumber. Because of their relative religious tolerance, these colonies attracted many English, French, and Irish Protestants, as well as Jews.
The Chesapeake/Southern Colonies consisted of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia. These were founded for profit, as the warm climate allowed for great agricultural activity and, eventually, plantations. Their cash crops were tobacco, rice, and indigo. The Chesapeake Bay also provided easy access for shipping. After 1676, enslaved labor was broadly used. These colonies attracted settlers with the headright policy, which portioned 50 acres of land for each person brought from England. Most of the settlers were single males, which meant more drunkenness, more fighting, and more unhealthy activities that lead to decreased life expectancy.
Colonial Case Studies
Because it’s not important for us to have an encyclopedic knowledge of each colony, we’re just going to look at a few case studies as illustrative examples.
Jamestown, Virginia (Chesapeake/Southern Colony)
In 1607, Jamestown, Virginia, was founded as the first permanent English settlement in the New World. There were quite a few problems in Jamestown. The unprepared first settlers at Jamestown didn’t know how to farm and chose a mosquito-ridden location for their settlement. This led to mosquito-borne diseases, drought, and starvation.
Farming tobacco as a cash crop for export to England saved the Jamestown colony. Settlers began growing tobacco in 1612, and it proved to be very popular in Europe. The desire to increase production led to the use of indentured servants, colonists who agreed to work for someone for several years in exchange for their passage to the New World. The headright system was a policy that gave 50 acres to men who joined the venture and came to Jamestown, and 50 more acres for each family member or indentured servant they brought. This policy was beneficial in that it attracted more and more settlers from England. One problem was that indentured servants were supposed to receive a set of tools, clothing, and sometimes a parcel of land when they completed their indenture. However, this did not always happen, creating a landless social class. This would eventually lead to trouble a bit later in the 17th century.
Massachusetts Bay Colony (New England)
Most New Englanders were motivated by religious ideals. Puritans believed that the Church of England or Anglican Church (the English Protestant church) was “too Catholic.” They hoped to purify the Church of England of its Catholic rituals and practices. Some Puritans stayed in England, but others couldn’t stand the religious tension and immigrated to North America, hoping for more religious freedom. The famous Pilgrims who settled at Plymouth were an extremist group of Puritans who believed that the Church of England couldn’t be fixed, and they needed to entirely split off and form a new church. Because of this, they are also called Separatists.
While still crossing the ocean, Pilgrim leaders made an agreement to abide by laws made by leaders of their own choice, called the Mayflower Compact. This is an example of early self-government. The Pilgrims founded their colony in the town of Plymouth in 1620.
Other Puritan groups settled nearby in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In all Puritan colonies, only those men who were considered to be among the elect (those whom God had chosen for salvation) could participate in the government.
A Puritan leader, John Winthrop, gave a sermon in 1630 in which he referred to Massachusetts Bay Colony as a “city on a hill.” He meant that the colony was morally elevated and that they should serve as an example of how government and life should be lived for cities around the world. This sermon is an early example of what would eventually come to be called American exceptionalism: the idea that America is special/different from other countries and has a unique or special role in the world.
Pennsylvania (Middle Colony)
The Quakers were a religious sect founded in England in 1647. Like the Puritans, they felt the Church of England included too many elements of Catholicism. Quakers rejected sacraments and formal ministry. Instead, they practiced pacifism (philosophy of anti-violence) and extreme equality (even allowing women to have certain rights). In Europe and the Americas, Quakers were often persecuted, yet in their own communities they extended religious toleration to all other groups.
William Penn, a Quaker, founded the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681. He encouraged people of all religious affiliations to settle in the colony and soon had enough settlers to establish the city of Philadelphia. Notably, Pennsylvania had very cordial relations with local natives, partly due to the Quakers’ pacifism and partly due to Penn’s insistence that settlers should purchase their land from Native Americans at a fair price.
Salutary Neglect and Self-government
The English policy of salutary neglect was the British Crown’s policy of avoiding the strict enforcement of laws regarding the colonies. As a result of this policy, for almost 100 years, the North American colonies governed and taxed themselves with little interaction or pressure from England—and they were fine with that.
One of the best examples of colonial self-government was Virginia’s House of Burgesses, a group of wealthy, white male landowners elected to represent their settlements. The House of Burgesses made and enforced the laws and regulations for all of the Virginia colony. Other examples include the Mayflower Compact and Massachusetts General Assembly, which had representatives from each town and a bicameral assembly with the right to vote based on church membership.
